Saturday, 25 February 2017

DUGALD
BUCHANAN (1716-68), THE ‘KILLIN CIRCLE’ AND THE McLAGAN MANUSCRIPTS

Donald E. Meek

Until recently, Dugald Buchanan has been regarded
principally as the premier spiritual poet of the Gaelic-speaking Highlands of
Scotland, above and beyond his fellows in his religious perceptions and his
poetic gifts.If he appeared in any
other context, it was usually as a schoolteacher in Rannoch, employed by the
Commissioners for the Forfeited Estates and supported by the Society in
Scotland for Propagating Christian Knowledge (SSPCK), and as the supervisor of
the printing of the Gaelic New Testament, while it was going through the press
in Edinburgh in 1765-67.His role in
that landmark translation, as in much else, was subservient to that of
ministers, and especially the singularly ‘worthy translator’ of the Gaelic New
Testament, the Rev. James Stewart of Killin, to whom the success of the whole
venture has been attributed.According
to the standard view, Buchanan was no more than the supervisor of the translation
as it went through the press.

Over some forty years and more, I have tried to arrive
at a more realistic appreciation of Dugald Buchanan.This has meant removing several layers of
myth by patiently stripping off the paint of traditionally simplistic remakings
of the man which accord with prevailing stereotypes.It has also meant studying his literary
legacy in detail and examining the official record of his life as seen in the
minutes and notices of the bodies which employed him.The principal conclusions of my research to
date have been presented in my recent edition of his hymns, Laoidhean Spioradail Dhùghaill Bhochanain
(LSDB).

In summary, these conclusions are that Buchanan was
far from being a gifted ‘child of nature’.A native of Ardoch, Strathyre, he had attended Divinity College in
Glasgow about 1740, gaining considerable esteem as a student of Biblical
languages, before embarking a decade later on a career as a schoolmaster with
the Commissioners for the Forfeited Estates on the estate of Strowan in
Perthshire.He was highly articulate in
both Gaelic and English, and his hymns, published in Edinburgh in 1767, far
from being wholly original, show a noticeable debt to the work of earlier
English poets.Buchanan translated
Puritan texts into Gaelic for the SSPCK, notably The Mother’s Catechism in 1757, and he was also the first known
translator of any portion of the Scottish Gaelic New Testament, having
translated the Second Epistle of Peter into Gaelic in 1758 as part of an
attempt to assist the Rev. Alexander MacFarlane of Arrochar, who was the first
choice of the SSPCK as the translator of the New Testament, but who had been
unable to make any significant progress with the assignment.It was after MacFarlane had failed to make
any further progress by 1760 that the translation was reassigned to the Rev.
James Stewart.

In this contribution, I wish to consider the various
contexts or ‘circles’ in which Buchanan operated, with some emphasis on his
connections with what I have provisionally called the ‘Killin circle’, named
from the Old Manse of Killin, home of the Rev. James Stewart, and inclusive of
the Rev. James McLagan, who was married to Stewart’s younger daughter.This will be followed by an investigation of
the manuscript versions of Buchanan’s hymns and related material found in the
McLagan Manuscripts in Glasgow University Library, and also in the McNicol
Manuscripts in the National Library of Scotland.

Wider
interactions

The broader circles within which Buchanan operated can
be set out fairly easily.All are
attested by correspondence and writings of various kinds, and sometimes
interlinked by references within these items.The surviving literary record for Buchanan, in terms of manuscripts of
his poems and other non-printed writings, is sufficient to make him a major
figure in the literary configuration of that period, even without the
publication of his important volume of hymns in 1767.His ability to operate comfortably in
English- and Gaelic-language contexts makes his literary profile all the more
fascinating.

The first circle is represented by his employment as a
schoolmaster with the Commissioners for the Forfeited Estates, supported
(grudgingly) by the SSPCK.His petitions
to the Commissioners survive, as does a letter written to his patron and
benefactor, William Ramsay, factor on the Strowan Estate in Rannoch until 1753,
in which he complains about Ramsay’s successor, Ensign James Small.Ramsay had brought Buchanan to Rannoch as a
schoolmaster by 1751, but he may have known Buchanan some three or so years
earlier.Ramsay’s pledge of support (for
ten years, or possibly seven) ceased about 1758, leading to financial
difficulties for Buchanan.Buchanan was
then more obviously dependent on the Commissioners and also on the SSPCK, which
was none too willing to fund schoolmasters employed on the Forfeited Estates.Again, Buchanan was reliant to some extent on patronage, or at least on a
friendly advocate to plead his cause before the SSPCK.This advocate was apparently Archibald
Wallace, a member of the SSPCK board, who appears to have been sufficiently
close to Buchanan for the latter to write a letter of condolence on the death
of Wallace’s daughter.

The second circle is centred on Edinburgh and on
Buchanan’s links with the scholars and patrons of the Enlightenment.It is not clear when Buchanan began to
interact with these literati, but there is evidence that it may have been
before 1765, and possibly even in the context of the flurry of excitement and
literary activity stimulated by James Macpherson’s ‘Ossianic’ translations
published in 1763 and 1764.In 1767,
while in the city to supervise the printing of the Gaelic New Testament,
Buchanan wrote a remarkable letter to Sir James Clerk of Penicuik, soliciting
his support for a possible Gaelic dictionary and an anthology of Gaelic poetry,
and demonstrating his scholarly familiarity with the work of previous men of
letters, some of whom were his older contemporaries, including Jerome Stone,
schoolmaster of Little Dunkeld, the Rev. David Malcolm of Duddingston, Thomas
Innes of Aboyne, and Principal William Robertson of Edinburgh University.

The third circle is that of English literature, which
provided the inspiration for several of Buchanan’s poems.As has been demonstrated in LSDB, Buchanan
was deeply familiar with the work of Isaac Watts, Edward Young, Robert Blair
and James Thomson, which he paraphrased or echoed or selectively translated,
freely, creatively or literally, and incorporated into his Gaelic verse.Buchanan was obviously attracted to the hymns
of Isaac Watts, with their chiselled, economical style, and to the compositions
of the so-called ‘Graveyard School’, which were often (in marked contrast to
Watts’ hymns) diffuse in style, but which he refashioned into his own clean-cut
Gaelic version of ‘Wattsian’ verse.Buchanan was also well read in Puritan prose literature, modelling his
own spiritual autobiography on John Bunyan’s Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners.

Buchanan
and the ‘Killin Circle’

As has been noted at the outset, Buchanan had a close
connection with the Rev. James Stewart through his part in supervising the
printing of the Gaelic New Testament by Balfour, Auld and Smellie, printers to
the University of Edinburgh, in 1765-67.However, beyond this supervisory role, Buchanan’s possible contribution
to the translating of the Gaelic New Testament has not been explored in any
detail, nor has the validity of regarding the Rev. James Stewart alone as the
‘worthy translator’.The ‘monumentalising’
tendency within older Gaelic clerical scholarship, with its eulogistic concern
to place individuals on misleading and inappropriate plinths, single-handedly
doing great literary deeds for the good of their people and culture, has done
little to shed any light on the strategy which was used in translating the New
Testament.‘Monumentalising’ has also
obscured the nature of Buchanan’s verse.

A small body of evidence exists to suggest that
Buchanan may well have been more active in Gaelic Bible translation than has
been allowed hitherto.He had already
translated, on his own intitiative, the Second Epistle of Peter by 1758, in an
attempt to assist the Rev. Alexander MacFarlane of Arrochar, who, as the
SSPCK’s first choice, was unable to proceed with the venture.We may wonder what became of Buchanan’s
version of Second Peter.It is, of
course, highly probable that it was incorporated in the 1767 edition of the New
Testament.

We may wonder too how much else of the New Testament
Buchanan may have translated, without any acknowledgement.A suggestion that he may have been
subcontracted as a translator is provided by a letter from the 1760s about
‘Ossian’ in the Sinclair of Ulbster papers (NLS Adv. 73.2.12 fo.22, kindly
provided by Dr Dòmhnall Uilleam Stewart, without whose support I could not have
written this or LSDB).The writer was in
pursuit of Ossianic material, and ‘An old [schoolmas]ter in Ranoch’, at that
time in Edinburgh, provided a translation of ‘Malvina’s Dream’:

Mr Menzies of Culdares
was desird to find out [] enough
to translate the Gospells into Erse [.] An old [schoolmas]ter in Ranoch got
that Employment whose year [sti]pend was but 5£.

This tantalising reference is a straw in the
wind.The SSPCK Minutes make no mention
of such undertakings by Buchanan, but he may have been paid indirectly by James
Stewart. The SSPCK Minutes do, however, refer in 1764 to the payment of
Buchanan as scribe to help in making copies of the Gaelic New Testament, and
the society also paid for a replacement teacher at Kinlochrannoch when Buchanan
was in Edinburgh in 1765-67.It is
certainly clear that Stewart was using the services of scribes in the revising
and correcting of the text, which had been completed by the end of 1763.For that purpose,

Mr Archibald McArthur
Missionary at Lismore [was] to attend Mr Stewart for Twenty days or a month in
winter, in order to finish the revisal of the work (GD95/2/8 pp. 219-20
(8/11/1763)).

In spite of the curious reticence of the SSPCK
Minutes, it is highly likely that Buchanan contributed significantly to the
making of the Gaelic New Testament.His
knowledge of Biblical languages is well attested in the surviving account of
his time at Divinity College in Glasgow, and it would be strange indeed if his
competence had not been known to, and utilised by, James Stewart.He also had a very commendable record of
earlier translation, which he carried out efficiently and promptly.His probable involvement in the project may
go far to explain why it was completed so quickly – within a mere three years –
when it was reassigned from the Rev. Alexander MacFarlane to the Rev. James
Stewart.

Buchanan’s interaction with the Stewarts is further
attested by a signature at the back of the copy of his printed hymns now in
Edinburgh University Library – that of Miss Eliza Stewart, elder daughter of
the Rev. James Stewart. This copy was probably in the library of the Old Manse
of Killin.It contains caret marks
which, when checked against manuscript versions of Buchanan’s hymns, suggest
that its early owners compared the printed texts with the manuscript texts, and
noted points at which the printed versions omitted verses which were in the
manuscripts.

One of the two main eighteenth-century collections
which contain manuscript versions of Buchanan’s poems was made by the Rev.
James McLagan.McLagan was married to
the Rev. James Stewart’s younger daughter, Catherine, and it may have been
through the ‘Killin Circle’ that these manuscripts came into McLagan’s
possession.By marriage, he too was part
of that circle.

Buchanan’s
hymns in the McLagan MSS

We are fortunate to possess manuscript drafts of five
of Buchanan’s eight published hymns.These
appear in both the McLagan MSS and the McNicol MSS.As has been demonstrated in LSDB, there are
significant differences, as well as minor divergences, between the texts of the
hymns as published in 1767 and the manuscript versions.In LSDB, reasons were given for believing
that the MS versions are, in fact, earlier than those in the printed book, and
that this provides us with a remarkable opportunity to observe Buchanan at work
as a poet, operating on paper and consciously editing and reworking his texts
prior to 1767.His published edition of
1767 represents what the poet himself was pleased to put into print – what he
may have regarded as the final ‘polished versions’, in effect.

The three hymns by Buchanan which do not appear in any
so-far known MSS are ‘Fulangas Chrìosd’, ‘Là a’ Bhreitheanais’ and ‘Ùrnaigh’.The same selection of hymns is also contained
in the McNicol MSS.It is interesting
that both MSS omit the same three hymns.The most likely explanation of this omission is that these hymns were
composed late in Buchanan’s career, perhaps not too long before he prepared his
selection for publication, and that they had not been provided with manuscript
drafts of any significance beyond the author’s final copies which may have gone
directly to the press.‘Là a’
Bhreitheanais’ contains a verse towards the end which addresses the
‘leughadair’ (‘reader’) directly, and Buchanan almost certainly had his
forthcoming printed edition in mind.The
‘Ossianic’ tone of some of its verses suggests that it may have been composed
when James Macpherson’s work had become widely known, i.e. after 1764
approximately, and had cast something of a spell on Buchanan, as on many others.It is also noteworthy that ‘Là a’ Bhreitheanais’
and ‘Fulangas Chrìosd’ became popular in oral transmission and singing, the
former being sung in Mull until the mid-twentieth century, and the latter
continuing to the present as a familiar item in the Gaelic spiritual
repertoire.‘Ùrnaigh’, a contemplative
penitent’s prayer, has not entered oral transmission, although a single verse
from it is carved on Buchanan’s 1925 memorial in Little Leny.

Two of Buchanan’s poems, ‘An Claigeann’ (‘Dan mu
thiomchiol Cloigionn Dunne mharbh’ in the MS) and ‘An Geamhradh’ (‘An Geamhradh
is an Tsean Aois air an Samhlachadh re Cheile air Fonn, Se do La ’ sa Rhaon Ruari
&c’ in the MS) are in McLagan MS General 1042 / 20 (a) and (b).Three further hymns, namely ‘Bruadar’
(‘Bruadar mu Shonnas’ in the MS), ‘Mòrachd Dhè’ (‘An Cruthadair & Na
Creatuiribh’ in the MS) and ‘An Gaisgeach’ (‘Am Fior Ghaisgeach’ in the MS), are
contained on extremely fragile pages in MS General 1042 / 4. Their fragility
prevented their extensive use in LSDB.

Who penned the versions of Buchanan’s hymns in the
McLagan MSS?Close inspection, aided
greatly by fresh digital images of MS General 1042 / 4, now reveals that all
five are in the same hand. There is a strong probability that this hand can be
identified.We are fortunate to possess
a significant amount of autographed writing from Buchanan in the form of petitions
and letters.The hand in the McLagan
items bears an extremely close resemblance, particularly in matters of detail
such as the formation of capital H, to that in Buchanan’s petition of about
1756 to the Forfeited Estates requesting their support for the enlarging of the
schoolhouse of Bunrannoch to accommodate worshippers and those whom he
catechised in ‘Bunrannoch and for two Miles up the Sides ofLoch Rannoch’ who were in the habit of
meeting in the fields (NAS.E 783/55/2(1).6.20). It seems highly likely that
Buchanan wrote the drafts of all five of his hymns now in the McLagan MSS.

The handwriting of the eighteenth century had what we
may call a ‘period style’, which makes identification of individual hands
difficult, and even dangerous.Matters
are further complicated by the consideration that a scribe’s hand could change
depending on nib, paper, speed of writing, the purpose of the document (formal,
informal, ‘doodle’ etc.), and even the passage of time. This latter point is raised by another hymn in
the McLagan MSS which is almost certainly by Dugald Buchanan, but which was not
included in his printed book. This is
‘Ma thiomchail Morthachd Dhe’ (McLagan MS General 1042 / 21).The reasons for regarding this as one of
Buchanan’s compositions are set out in LSDB (Agusan C) and in the edition below
(Appendix B).The hand appears to be a
smaller, more compact version of the one that wrote the drafts discussed
above.The writing is more consciously
‘correct’ in terms of Gaelic orthography, with regular use of the grave accent
on long vowels.The composer also
appears to adopt a more obviously Classical form of Gaelic, with more evident use
of eclipsis than in the other Buchanan hymns, and a slightly higher
register.In the title, when writing
‘Dhe’, this hand uses a rather more ‘artistic’ style of ‘D’, with a distinct
‘twirl’ on the ‘tail’, which is brought forward with a flourish.This form of ‘D’ (‘twirly D’) is also a
regular feature of other poems in the McLagan MSS which we may suspect were
composed by Dugald Buchanan.

McLagan
and McNicol MSS

The versions of Buchanan’s hymns in the McNicol MSS
are very close indeed to those in McLagan in terms of their texts, with only
minor differences, and there can be little doubt that they derive from the same
scribal source.The similarity in their
source is reinforced by their complete agreement at points where the printed
book provides different line readings, or omits or includes particular
verses.Their orthographic conventions
are also in broad agreement.However,
the versions of ‘Bruadar’ (‘Bruadar mu Shonnas’, MS), ‘Mòrachd Dhè’ (‘An
Cruthadair & Na Creatuiribh’, MS) and ‘An Gaisgeach’ (‘Am Fior Ghaisgeach’,
MS) in the McLagan MSS all provide a verse of scripture below each title, which
is not attested in the texts in the McNicol MSS.There would therefore appear to have been a
difference in the presentation of the texts available to the scribe when he
wrote the different ‘batches’ now found respectively in the McLagan and McNicol
MSS.Assuming that the McNicol scribe
did not merely omit the scripture verses, this may suggest that Buchanan’s
hymns existed in several different versions in manuscript prior to their
editing for the printed book.The
differences were, however, relatively slight, and restricted, on the whole, to
matters of rubric and presentation, although it is very evident that some
significant alterations were made to certain texts before they went into print.See Appendix C for transcriptions of ‘An
Gaisgeach’ from both the McLagan and the McNicol MSS.

The hand in the McNicol MSS versions cannot yet be
identified with certainty.It is
different from that in McLagan, while sharing some common features of ‘period
style’. It is also more evidently the hand of a scribe making a fair copy, with
more ornate writing and a very straight base for each line, as if the page had
been ruled, as in a special notebook.Yet we do well to consider that ‘a different hand’ does not necessarily
always equate with ‘a different scribe’.However improbably, it could reflect the same scribe with different
writing tools, different motivation, and different paper, or on a different day
or year or at another stage of life.Further study of autographed letters by Buchanan and others, like the
Rev. Donald McNicol himself, is needed to augment the ‘fixed and certain’
comparative evidence, before we can consider any other identities.McNicol is undoubtedly the strongest
candidate for the ‘hand’ responsible for the drafts of Buchanan’s verse in the
McNicol MSS.

Translations
of Watts’ poems in the McLagan MSS

As has been demonstrated in LSDB, Dugald Buchanan was
deeply indebted to Isaac Watts, to the extent of translating some of Watts’
verses directly into Gaelic. Indeed, the first poem in LSDB, ‘Mòrachd Dhè’, is
particularly significant in this respect, as it is composite translation, based
mainly on verses from two hymns in Watts’ collection, Horae Lyricae, with some verses by Buchanan himself in ‘Wattsian’
style.It is particularly interesting
that McLagan MS General 1042 /19 contains translations, close or free, of no
less than four of Watts’ poems, one of which has already been correctly
identified, another misidentified, and the remainder unidentified.These are, in order, ‘Itheam-Olam-Cacam-Caidl(a)im’,
a close but not by any means literal translation of Watts’ ‘The Sluggard’; ‘An
Seangan’, again a fairly close translation of Watts’ ‘The Ant, or Emmet’; and
‘Lamh slaodadh reum’ (glossed by the scribe as ‘Stealing’), a freer translation
of Watts’ ‘The Thief’, which omits one verse in Watts and substitutes another
by the translator.All three of these Watts’
poems were published in Book 4 of his Horae
Lyricae under the heading ‘Moral Songs’.

The MS continues with two further poems, one of which
is a translation of a poem in the preceding part of Book 4, namely the ‘Divine
Songs’.This is ‘Riaghailt Ora an t
Slanai-fhir’, Matthew 7.12’(with ‘Ora’ glossed as ‘Golden’ by the scribe), a very
loose translation of Watts’ ‘Our Saviour’s Golden Rule, Matthew vii.12) which
appears to draw on the next poem in Horae
Lyricae, namely ‘Duty to God and our Neighbour’.The final poem in the set, ‘Cliu-radh, Iud:
24.25’ (with ‘Cliu-radh’ glossed as ‘Doxology’ by the scribe), is a paraphrase
of the New Testament passage to which the title refers, possibly with some
influence from Watts’ ‘Glory to the Father and the Son &c’, which concludes
the ‘Divine Songs’ section. See
Appendix A.

It would be a truly remarkable coincidence if there were
another Gaelic poet who was translating Watts’ poems at the same time as
Buchanan, and using the Horae Lyricae
as his source.In the context of the
McLagan MSS, and a particular section of the MSS which provides authenticated
versions of Buchanan’s hymns, we may conclude with reasonable certainty that
these translations are also the work of Buchanan. ‘Lamh Slaodadh Reum’, with
its ‘new’ Gaelic quatrain and more creative approach, is very much in
Buchanan’s style as attested in ‘Mòrachd Dhè’.

It should be noted that none of Buchanan’s known hymns
in the McLagan or McNicol MSS are ascribed to him as the poet; nor do these
translations have any ascriptions.Identification
of the probable author rests on the detailed study provided by LSDB, which sets
out the characteristics of Buchanan’s modes of translation.

Genres
and hands and questions

If these translations are indeed by Dugald Buchanan,
as the evidence suggests very strongly, we need to note that they are not as
carefully penned in the McLagan MSS as the texts of his hymns. They are also
much closer to vernacular Gaelic, with fewer Classical features. With the
exception of ‘Lamh slaodadh reum’ and ‘Riaghailt Ora’, they lack verse numbers,
show less literary polish, exhibit some ‘rugged’ lines, and have more deletions
(though not many).This might indicate
that most are first or working drafts, fairly speedily written, possibly for
private use, and without any intention to circulate them.Composed by Watts primarily for the
instruction of children, the clearly didactic intent of these poems may have
attracted Buchanan, as he could have used them for teaching in his school.Were the translations also intended for use
in his school in Rannoch?They would
certainly have fitted the curriculum.

It is worth noting too that there is a high degree of
correspondence between the hand that wrote all of these additional translations
and the one that appears to have penned the Buchanan hymns in McLagan. So are
we, in fact, dealing with a very substantial amount of material which derives
directly from the pen, as well as the mind, of Dugald Buchanan?

Interim
conclusion

In the context of the hymns ascribed to Dugald
Buchanan in his printed edition of 1767, the materials in the McLagan MSS and McNicol
MSS are of the greatest possible significance to our understanding of the poet
and his ways of working, as has been demonstrated in LSDB.They permit us to see a fastidious translator
and composer and literary ‘operator’, altering his words and lines, and quite
possibly making adjustments to his ‘best pieces’ for publication.That is certainly one way of interpreting the
differences between the printed texts and those in the manuscripts.

However, the McLagan corpus is of particular value in
allowing us to consider a still wider picture of Buchanan, offering additional
translations for us to assess, and throwing in some new puzzles. Here we may
well be ‘catching the man at work’, translating from Isaac Watts in a much more
obvious manner than even the evidence of the hymns might indicate, but
functioning, nevertheless, in a way that is entirely consistent with the ‘new’
intepretation of Dugald Buchanan offered in LSDB and his poetic modus operandi.The MS evidence presents different
‘qualities’ and kinds of translation, relative to the Watts corpus, namely (1)
fairly direct translations of Watts, with a very clever and mature approach to recontextualising
the original poems, (2) very free translations of Watts, in which the latter’s
verse is a creative prompt rather than a source, and (3) translations which are
a mixture of direct translation, free translation and original composition.We can also detect at least three levels of
language: (1) the ‘higher’ and more Classical style of ‘Ma thiomchail Morthachd
Dhe’, (2) the less Classical style of the eight printed hymns and their MS
predecessors, and (3) the plainly vernacular style of the translations of Watts
in Appendix A.

We are left with questions, as always with Buchanan. In this context, we have to ask whether the
McLagan collection has, in fact, preserved ‘Buchanan papers’ which were kept
within the family, and then passed on to the Rev. James McLagan, thanks to the
‘Killin circle’ and McLagan’s connection with the Rev. James Stewart?

We can but speculate at this stage, but even without
clinching the identity of the ‘hand(s)’, the cumulative evidence of
translations and subject-matter and poetic technique, typical of what we
already know of Buchanan, leads at least this editor to the provisional conclusion
that we are indeed looking at some of the papers which once rested on the desk
of the brilliant and highly literate schoolmaster of Rannoch, whose literary
circles went far beyond that of Killin.

APPENDIX A

McLagan MS General 1042 /19

1. (a) Translation of Isaac Watts, ‘The
Sluggard’

Itheam-Olam-Cacam-Caidl(i)am

So Géaran an Lùndair’s ro-mhaith ’s
aithne dhomh Chaoidh;

Och mhosgladh ro-mhoch mi; leig
airìs mi a luidh’(.)

Is mar Dhoras air Lùdlan, ( ) Mac
Leisg air a sheid,

’S e o Shlinnin gu Slinnin, cur
Char dhè le Cnead.

O Thàimhlin gu Pràmhan, is o Phràmh
gu Trom Shuain,

Struidh Leisgin air Uiridh moran
tuill’ is leath Uair(;)

Air èirigh dha suidhidh ’s paisgidh
Làmha ’na Chrios,

No siùbhlaidh e gu soisneach, no
seasmhaidh car greis.

Ghabh mi seach a Gharadh, is feach
Fiàdh-throma Dreas,

Sgitheach, Draighneach, is Finan, s
iom-sgaoille na Pris;

S ro-lom Trusgan an Lùndair’, lan
Bharlag us Tholl,

Chreach Sìor-struidh a Sporan[,]
gheibh e ghort-bhas mar thoill(;)

An sin chaidh mi d’a amharc ’n dùil
gu faict’ air a Mheanm,

Gu do chuir e tuill’ Uidh’ ann an
sgiamhachadh An’m;

Bhodhair e mi le Bruadar mu Ith’ is
mu Ol:

Ach air Urnaidh, Cread, Aithne, no
Cheist chad chuir Eol.

Ars mise re m’ Anam bith air t
Fhaicil roimh Leisg;

Na faicear a h Aogasg, na a Dreach
ort am feasd;

Thoir bhuidhe so do Chàirdibh ghabh
Cùram dot Aoilin

’S a theagaisg ot Oig dhuit Ladh
Dhe is Deagh-ealain.

Crioch

(b) Watts’ original

The Sluggard

’Tis the voice of the sluggard; I heard him
complain,
‘You have waked me too soon, I must slumber again.’
As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,
Turns his sides and his shoulders and his heavy head.

‘A little more sleep, and a little more slumber;’
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number,
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about sauntering, or trifling he stands.

I pass’d by his garden, and saw the wild brier,
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher;
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find
That he took better care for improving his mind:
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking;
But scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart, ‘Here's a lesson for me,’
This man’s but a picture of what I might be:
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading.

COMMENTARY AND NOTES

Title:The Gaelic title is apparently a proverbial
saying which encapsulates the only activities of a sluggard – ‘I eat, I drink,
I shite, I sleep’.It has a touch of
‘shock phrasing’ as ‘cacaim’ might not be expected in this context.The innocuous title of the English orginal
does not suit this translator, who prefers to place his translation securely
and very directly within Gaelic tradition.In so doing, he covers his tracks as a translator, to the extent that
Derick Thomson regarded the Gaelic poem as ‘anonymous’.

Technique:
The translation is close to the original, but not by any means tight in its
equivalence.It flows smoothly, with
little to show that it is indebted to an earlier English model.The last lines of verses 3 and 4 are
particularly clever in their contextualising of the sluggard’s sloth in a
Highland religious setting.

There are some fine examples of colourful Gaelic
language, as in the use of ‘sgiamhachadh An’m’ (‘beautifying his soul’) for
‘improving his mind’ in q. 4 b.

The transcription supplies spaces between
quatrains.

2.(a) Translation of
Isaac Watts, ‘The Ant, or Emmet’

An Seangan

Cia Sùarach na
seangain nar Suilibh ’s nar Meas!

Leinn salltrar air
Làr, is theid sgaoigh dhiubh gu Bas,

’S oirnn Tiom-chroidh
’no Smùarin cha chuir(;)

’S ge glic sinn
nar Bar’mhail, na’n rachmaid dan Sgoil,

’S iomadh ’Umaidh,
is Lundair, a gheibheadh uath’ Eol(;)

Air Teagar
ion-mholta ’s air Tùr.

Le Macnas no Codal
cha struidh iad an Uair,

Ach cnuasaichidh
ann a La grian-lasta Gran,

Is taisgidh Lòn
Geamhraidh nan Tor:

Ni iadsan
sar-obair gu riaghailteach grìnn,

Mar Dhuile
reamhleirsinneach an Geamhradh nan Sian,

Is lionadh le
Teagar Tigh Stoir.

Ach ’s aineolaich
mise na Seangan nan Lean,

Mur Teagair ’s mur
cnuasaich mi Gaireas dhamh fein,

’S mur gabh mi
roimh Chuntarta Trath.

Tra spoinnicheas
Seanaois is Bas reum le Cheil’,

Nach truadh dhamh
ma gluais mi mar Umaidh gun Cheill

O m’ Bhreathla gu
’m Chrich re Mionstàdh?

Nois, feadh ’ta mo
Neart agus m’ oige fa Bhlath,

Sior
shaothraicheam Tearmann do’m Anam o Chradh

Na Doghrainn a
thoill mo mhi-ghniomh;

Sir-dhealradh a’
m’ Ghiulan Gradh Dhe is a Shluaigh,

’S trath thuiteas
an Corp-sa ’na Smur anns an (Uiagh)

Do m’ Bheo-anam
(’S) buan-chomhnuidh Neamh.

Crioch

(b) Watts’ original

The Ant or Emmet

These emmets, how
little they are in our eyes!

We tread them to
dust, and a troop of them dies,

Without our regard
or concern:

Yet, wise as we
are, if we went to their school,

There’s many a
sluggard, and many a fool,

Some lessons of
wisdom might learn.

They don’t wear
their time out in sleeping or play,

But gather up corn
in a sunshiny day,

And for winter
they lay up their stores:

They manage their
work in such regular forms,

One would think
they foresaw all the frosts and the storms,

And so brought
their food within doors.

But I have less
sense than a poor creeping ant

If I take not due
care for the things I shall want,

Nor provide
against dangers in time:

When death or old
age shall stare in my face,

What a wretch I
shall be in the end of my days,

If I trifle away
all their prime?

Now, now, while my
strength and my youth are in bloom,

Let me think what
will serve me when sickness shall come,

And pray that my sins
be forgiven:

Let me read in
good books, and believe and obey,

That when death
turns me out of this cottage of clay,

I may dwell in a
palace in heaven.

COMMENTARY AND NOTES

Technique:
This
is a fluent translation, which is somewhat closer to its original than the
translation of ‘The Sluggard’ (Item 1).Perhaps because of this, it is not as impressive as the translation of
‘The Sluggard’ in terms of metre and rhyme.It retains the metrical form of the original, but its end rhymes are not
always perfect.

The industrious character of the ant,
along with that of the bee, is given as an example of provident preparation for
the afterlife in Dugald Buchanan’s poem ‘An Geamhradh’. In fact, Watts has
another poem exhorting its readers to emulate the good example of the bee.Strangely, the present Gaelic poem has been
misidentified in the Glasgow University Catalogue of the McLagan MSS as a
version of Watts’ poem on the bee, beginning ‘How doth the little busy bee /
Improve each shining hour…’

3.(a)Translation of Isaac Watts, ‘The Thief’

Lamh slaodadh reum

++Stealing

1

Dh’a Ain-deoin
Duine, no gun fhios da,

’N tog mi Chreach, no’n goid mi Chuid,

’N Lamh fhuair mi
gu h-obair Chneasda,

’N sin mi ’mach gu Creich no Braid[?]

2

’S mealtach faoin
an Ni do’n Ghaisgidh

Duil bhi aig ri Buidhinn Chreach:

’S crioch gu tric
do Theagar Sladaidh,

Gad m’a Mhuineal ris a Chroich.

3

Co-dhiu ’s Crioch
dh’a Croich, no Tinneas,

Bas le h Arm no Anrath Cuain;

Tilgear Anam
dh’Ionsaidh ’n Donais

(Is) leis mar Choir Luchd-braid is Cluain.

4

Nach tric
chonnairc sinn Og-ghadaich

’S Tionsgnadh Beatha dh’a Mion-bhraid;

Ach (air fas) dh’a
’na Phriomh-Shladaidh

’S Crioch d’a Bheatha Bas a’ Ghaid?

5

’N saoil shibh gu
feid Mearle fantainn

Folaicht’ choich o Bheachd gach Sul:

Air goid dhuinn’
an ni nach buin duinn

Chi an Ti Da’n leir gach Duil?

6

Gleidh mo Chroidh,
a Righ as Athair

O Shant Maoine nach buin damh;

O Ghoid Fheadail
ann do Lathair

M’ anam gleidh mar mo Lamh.C

(b) Watts’ original

The Thief

Why should I
deprive my neighbour

Of his goods against his will?

Hands were made
for honest labour,

Not to plunder or to steal.

’Tis a foolish
self-deceiving

By such tricks to hope for gain:

All that’s ever
got by thieving

Turns to sorrow, shame, and pain.

Have not Eve and
Adam taught us

Their sad profit to compute?

To what dismal
state they brought us,

When they stole forbidden fruit?

Oft we see a young
beginner

Practise little pilfering ways,

Till grown up a
harden’d sinner,

Then the gallows ends his days.

Theft will not be
always hidden,

Though we fancy none can spy:

When we take a
thing forbidden,

God beholds it with his eye.

Guard my heart, O
God of Heaven!

Lest I covet what’s not mine;

Lest I steal what
is not given,

Guard my heart and hands from sin.

COMMENTARY AND NOTES

Title: As with Item 1, the translator replaces
the straightforward title of the original with a Gaelic idiom meaning literally
‘Hand hanging from me’, but which he glosses as ‘Stealing’.Presumably the idiom works along lines
similar to the notion of being ‘tarry-fingered’ in English.Again, this helps to disguise the origin of
the work.

Technique: The translation is fluent, natural and
neatly creative.The translator extends
his remit in a direction not attested in Items 1 and 2 by omitting verse 3 in
the original Watts version, and creating a replacement verse. This verse
stresses the serious nature of the judgment which will befall a robber, when
his soul is thrown to the Devil, regardless of how he dies.

If this is indeed
a translation by Dugald Buchanan, it would surely be of particular relevance in
Rannoch, where the rooting out of lawlessness and thieving was a priority in
the eyes of the Forfeited Estates and their schoolmaster.

4.(a) Translation of
Isaac Watts’ ‘Our Saviour’s Golden Rule’

Riaghailt Ora an t
Slanai-fhir, Matth. 7.12

++ Golden

Coi-dhileas
cho-thromach bith thu

Do Theaghlach Aird-righ Néamh

’S a bion dut ann
s (iarhaidh) orr-asan

Bith dhut ann Smuain ’s ann Gniomh.

2

Na dealbh na
bagair is na dean

A’ Mì-ghniomh sin gu brath,

B’ ion dut a mheas
mar (Ea-coir) chlaoin,

Nan deant’ ort e le Cach.

Crioch

(b) Watts’ originals

(i.)Our Saviour’s Golden Rule

Be you to others kind and true,As you'd have others be to you;
And neither do nor say to menWhate’er you would not take again.

(ii.) Duty to God and Our Neighbour

Love God with all your soul and strength.

With all your
heart and mind;

And love your neighbour as yourself:

Be faithful,
just, and kind.

Deal with another as you'd have

Another deal
with you:

What you're unwilling to receive,

Be sure you never do.

COMMENTARY
AND NOTES

Technique: The original poem by Watts consists of
only one verse.The translation seems to
find a second verse by taking some thoughts, or at least a prompt, from the
second verse of the poem which follows it in Watts’ book, namely ‘Duty to God
and Our Neighbour’.

5.(a)Cliu-radh Iud: 24.25

++ Doxology

’Nois
dar Fear-saoraidh cumhachdach,

Le Threan-laimh chongbhas Sluagh,

O
thuiteam ann an Doimhne Ciont’

’S a shaoras a gach Truaigh.

2

Dh’fheadas
ar Taisbineadh do Dhia,

Sar-choi-liont neamh-choireach,

Am
Fianais Gloir a Ghnuis gun Ghruaim,

Le h-Aoibhneas maireannach.

3

Do
Dhia ar Tearmainn, glic amhain,

Gu siorraidh canar leinn’

Gloir,
Neart is Buaidh is Mor-dhalachd

’Nois is gu brath, Amen.

4

Iah, aon ann Tri, co-mholaibh-se,

Le Naomh-Shluagh tairis Neamh:

An t-Athair, Mac,
is Naoimh Spiorad

Gu siorraidh canar leibh.

C

(b) The Epistle of Jude, vv.
24-25 (Authorised Version)

Now unto him that is able to keep you from
falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy,

To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory
and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.Amen

(c)
Watts’ doxological verse

GLORY
TO THE FATHER AND THE SON &c

Long
metre

To God the Father,
God the Son,

And God the
Spirit, three in One;

Be honour, praise,
and glory given,

By all on earth
and all in Heaven.

Common metre

Now let the
Father, and the Son,

And Spirit be ador’d,

Where there are
works to make him known,

Or saints to love the Lord.

Short metre

Give to the Father
praise,

Give glory to the Son;

And to the Spirit
of his grace;

Be equal honour done.

COMMENTARY
AND NOTES

Technique: The first three
verses of the translation are generally close to its source, namely the Epistle
of Jude, verses 24-25, but its fourth verse looks like a reworking of Watts’
doxology ‘Glory to the Father and the Son &c.’, which Watts provides in
three different metres, with different wording accordingly, at the very end the
section of ‘Divine Songs’ in his Horae
Lyricae.Watts had a considerable
interest in composing verses and hymns of ‘glory’ to God.

Iah, the first word
of verse 4, is one of the Hebrew words for God, as in ‘Jahew’, commonly
‘Jehovah’ in English.It is, in fact,
one of the most honoured names of God in Hebrew worship.It is not used in Watts’ verses, and reflects
the translator’s mind.

APPENDIX B

McLagan MS General 1042 / 21

Ma
thiomchail Morthachd Dhe

1.Creud è ar Ndia? S ro chruaidh a Cheist.

Cia chuireas freagradh dhi angcèil?

Gach Crètuir dhfàg ì balbh am feusd

S le Aineolas do glash i mbèul.

2.Cia è an Taingeal tuigseach trèun

Lan bhuaidhibh Dhe ni aireamh Shios?

S e mhàin do thuigeas iad gu lèir

Mhòr Ghliocas fèin ata gan Chrìoch.

3.Mìltibh gan àireamh nun on Ghrèin,

Ta ionnad Comhnuidh Glormhor Dhia;

Na chòir Cho Streup mo Smuaintibh
fèin

S ni ruig air Ainglibh treun le
Sgiadh.

4.Ta ballàcha a bhaille mhoir,

Togtadh le Seòid S le Clachaibh buadh

S a <thr>àidibh uile leagt le
hòir

Seadh les an or is deirge Snuadh.

5.Cia
nseraph ga bhuil Spionnadh Sùil

Do thairngeas dlu
don Dealradh mhò[i]r

Ta lassadh
tiomchail Dhia nan ndùl

An Gcuirtibh
Greadhnachuis a Ghloir?

6.Ntra ghlaodhas Se gur Naomha Dia

S gur Glic a riaghladh an sgach Cùis

Roimh mheud do Ghloire gabhidh fiamh

S le sgiathibh folighidh se a Ghnùis.

7.Ntra labhras Sè am feirg a Ghuth

Cia Nech nach Guidheadh bhi gan
Chluas?

Nam reubfeadh leis na Neullaith tiugh

Aig Sgolt na ngcreugan aig a Chruas.

8.Ta postadh Sìorruidh flaitheas fèin

Ar crith aig Geilfichdin don fhuaim;

S na Slèibhte leagha as mar Chèir

Sa mhuir le beacich ta na Suain.

9.Ntra Chualadh Noidhche Shìorruidh nguth

Do labhair Dia an tus a ghniomh;

Gu grad do theich an Dorcha tiugh;

Aig gabhail roim an tsolas fiamh.

10.Air
tus do labhair se “Bi[o]dh ann”

Sar ball do tho[i]irreacha neamhni
lèis;

Gan saothair do rugadh gho mar
Chlànn,

Deich mìle Saoghal a niomlan mais.

11.S
tu Niotag bheò do chuir na Ghluais

Gach Saoghal Sluaghmhor ata Snàmh,

An Doimhne tail Sìor Dhol ma nguairt

Ar aisheal Cruaidh nach caidh gu
brath.

12.Làn
laisde theilg thu as do <Dhorn>

Na Reultaibh uill’ mar Dhorlach Siol;

Fad machraichibh an Doirche mhoir

Le Dealrad Glòir gan Chean gan
Chrich.

/ 2

13.Do
rinn thu Caiptan ard don Ghrèin,

Mar Àitheuch treun air chian do
Shluìdh,

Shoilseach na mplanaid fad na Speur

S ga ngaradh ris gu leir ma nguairt.

14.Ta Narmailt Lonrach ud gu lèir,

Re freacadan gach oiche is là

Tiomchail do Chathair rioghail fèin

Gan amhludh <Ceim> na measg gu
brath.

15.Do
mheas thu ’n gcuan a ngclar do bhois;

Is Chuartich steach a ghaod nad
dhòrn;

Do thomhais thu flaitheas le do reis,

San mheidh do Chuir na Sleibhte mòr.

16.Ca
ris do Shamhluicheas me Dia?

Oir therig briathra dham gu lèir

Na coimeas red ghloir gur Dubh a Ghrian

Is meud do Chial Cha nochd na Speur.

An Chrioch

COMMENTARY AND NOTES

This magnificent Gaelic hymn can be
ascribed to no composer other than Dugald Buchanan, as it exemplifies his
sources and techniques very clearly.It
is based loosely on the first six verses of Psalm 19, with their picture of the
‘speaking universe’, but it draws indirectly on poems by Isaac Watts, namely
‘The Creator and the Creatures’, ‘God Supreme and Self-sufficient’, and ‘The
Infinite’, which were published in Horae
Lyricae, and used by Buchanan in the composition of ‘Mòrachd Dhè’, the
opening poem in his printed book, as has been demonstrated in LSDB.The title of ‘Mòrachd Dhè’ is remarkably
close to that of the present poem, but in the MSS it is entitled ‘An Cruthadair
agus na Creutairibh’, representing the title of one of the Wattsian
sources.The similarity of titles, which
suggests an editorial alteration made before the printed hymn went through the
press, is, on its own, sufficent to suggest that Buchanan is the author of the
present composition also.The theme of
God’s majesty and ‘apartness’, inaccessible by reason alone, was evidently
close to his heart, as well as to that of Watts.It is also evident that, in composing this
poem Buchanan, drew on other hymns by Watts, likewise in Horae Lyricae, most obviously ‘God’s Dominion and Decrees’.See the note on vv. 9-10 below.

This hymn, however, shows Buchanan as
an imitator rather than a translator of Watts.He keeps sufficiently far away from Watts to give himself creative
space, and in the process produces what is undoubtedly his finest hymn on this
theme, if not his finest known poem.It
is studded with powerful images, such as that of God as ‘Niotag bheo’ (‘the
living particle’, 11a) from which the creation was made.In such a metaphor, even though Buchanan
subscribes to an ex nihilo creation,
and the hymn is in large measure a celebration of the Newtonian theory of the
‘steady state’ cosmos,one catches a
momentary glimpse of what we now know as the ‘Big Bang’ theory.The resulting universe is seen as being, in
effect, a globe which revolves on ‘Aisheal Cruaidh’ (‘a solid axle’) which will
never wear away.Again, the image of God
throwing the ‘fully ignited’ stars into space ‘mar Dhorlach Siol’ (‘like a
handful of grain’, 12ab) is both powerfully supernatural and also remarkably
down-to-earth, reminding us of Buchanan’s own origin as the son of the miller
in Ardoch, Strathyre.The superbly sustained
metaphor of God as the commander of his own celestial army, which guards him
without putting a step wrong, is a very fine poetic achievement (vv.
13-14).Having described the brightness
and brilliance which God achieves in launching the planets and stars into
space, the poem concludes, as it began, by posing the initial and ultimate
question, with the paradox that the sun itself, the body that heats and lights
the entire cosmos in q. 13, is black compared with the incomprehensible glory
of God, which the poem has attempted to capture.

Although the poem owes its
starting-point to Psalm 19, the type of speech which is presented in it is both
similar to, and different from, that in the Psalm.In the Psalm, ‘the heavens declare the glory
of God’, and that is implicitly so in this poem, as the celestial bodies bear
constant witness to the Creator.However, in the Gaelic poem, a seraph proclaims the holiness of God,
which induces terror, and God also speaks, arousing fear of his anger.Thus, although his creation proclaims his
presence as creator, God is portrayed as unapproachable and also inaccessible
by means of human reason.He is the
Sublime Being, inspiring awe and wonder, but also fear.

The poem is reminiscent of a hymn by
another author of the same period as Isaac Watts, namely Joseph Addison
(1672-1719), the poet, moralist and journalist, and writer in The Spectator.His well-known and celebrated hymn, ‘The
Spacious Firmament on High’, portrays a Newtonian universe which ‘speaks’ its
testimony to the existence of the God who created it (LSDB, p. 308), as in
Psalm 19.

In terms of its style and language,
this is also Buchanan’s most ambitious poem.It displays a greater awareness of Classical Gaelic morphology than his
eight published poems, particularly in its use and marking of eclipsis,
sometimes showing ‘double marking’ reflecting Classical Gaelic and vernacular
Scottish Gaelic conventions (Dhia nan
ndùl, 5c).Long vowels are marked,
though not always consistently, with grave accents.The vocabulary used also belongs to a ‘higher’
level than that of the eight published poems, with the use of nouns like
‘athach’ and ‘tail’, and it makes more demands of the reader’s
understanding.The poem carries a
‘bardic’ nuance too, with the repetition of the opening question, rephrased in
the last verse, as if in an echo of the dùnadh
in Classical Gaelic verse.

This poem, in short, takes us to a
much more refined understanding of the range of Buchanan’s techniques than we
have had hitherto.This is ‘bardic
Buchanan’, with a ‘top drawer’ composition.The careful penmanship, executed with great care and few errors,
suggests that it was highly regarded by the scribe, who is doubtless also the
poet, as the correspondence of the hand with that of Buchanan’s known
autographed material is high.Its
survival is remarkable, but it also leaves us with many (as yet) unanswered
questions, particularly in the context of the printed book.

Why was it not published in the 1767
volume? Was it composed too late to be included?Was Buchanan restricted in terms of the
amount of space available to him, as it would have been more costly to include
the poem? Was Buchanan aware that this was indeed a ‘top drawer’ composition,
too exalted for ‘mass circulation’, or too complicated?In his 1767 book, was he aiming at a ‘middle
range’ selection, which would be relatively easily comprehensible to his
readers?It is noticeable that he
excluded what we may regard as his Gaelic versions of Watts’ didactic verse for
children (Appendix A).It is now more
than evident, if we understand the suriviving McLagan MS material correctly,
that Buchanan could operate at (at least) three levels of literary ‘density’
and potential application.

In addition to highlighting some
scribal detail, the following notes offer a few alternative readings for those
already given in the provisional modernised text in LSDB (Agusan C).

2dFor ‘Mòr-ghliocas’ in LSDB, now read
‘Mhòr-ghliocas’.

9-10 These verses appear to be an
expansion of the third verse in Watts’ poem, ‘God’s Dominion and Decrees’ (HL,
p. 33):

12a <Dhorn> It looks as if the scribe originally wrote ‘lamh’,
and then wrote ‘Dhorn’ on top of this apparent error.

12c For ‘machraichibh’ in the MS, I
restored ‘mhachraichibh’ in LSDB.Letters such as ‘h’ are occasionally lost by this scribe, but usually in
final position, as in ‘Dealrad’ in 12d.

13b Àitheuch:In LSDB I
understood this as ‘athach’, ‘giant’, but it might also represent ‘àigeach’,
‘young horse, steed’.The latter is
unlikely, as a the sun is referred to as a ‘champion’ in Psalm 19.

14a Narmailt: In LSDB I understood this as ‘[a]n iarmailt’, ‘the
firmament’, with the ‘i’ obscured by the tail of the downstroke of the N.While this is a defensible interpretation, it is much more likely to
represent ‘[a]n armailt’, ‘the army’, with reference to the planets as part of
the divine panoply.

14d In LSDB I understood this as ‘Gun
amhlaidh lèim no measg gu bràth’, ‘With no likeness of jumping [out of line] or
commixture for ever’.It seems more
likely to me now that we should read Cèim
instead of lèim, and restore the line
as ‘Gun am[a]ladh ceum nam measg gu bràth’,‘With no wrong taking of a step
among them for ever’.The idea is of an
army which keeps perfect step.

15b dhòrn: The scribe originally wrote Ghòrn, and then cancelled the ‘G’, writing ‘d’ in superscript.

APPENDIX C

‘An Gaisgeach’

The two available manuscript texts of
the hymn printed by Buchanan in 1767 under the title of ‘An Gaisgeach’ are
transcribed below in parallel columns, the one from the McLagan MSS and the
other from McNicol, for comparative purposes.

The two versions differ in their openings, with a
rubric in the McLagan text which is clearly derived from Robert Kirk’s Gaelic
Bible of 1690.This is not attested in
the McNicol version. They have slightly different readings at qq. 2 b. The
McNicol version concludes with ‘Finid’, which is not found in McLagan.

In their orthographies, the two versions correspond
closely, showing only minor variations. Their occcasionally egregious spellings,
common to both texts, demonstrate clearly that they derive from essentially the
same scribal ‘stream’; thus ‘Laiss’d’ in q. 11 d.

In their wording, they agree at points where the
printed text offers a different reading, as in the form of the title, and in q.
7 cd and q. 15 cd, although the readings in the latter couplet differ between
the two manuscripts (for which, see the note below).Most obviously, both lack the three quatrains
with which the text in the printed book concludes.This is discussed fully in LSDB, where it is
shown that Buchanan derived these additional verses from the Watts exemplar
which formed his creative source.The
two manuscript versions thus derive from a version earlier than that in the
printed book.

1 b Sesar in
McLagan reflects the pronunciation of original C- as S-, as in English, whereas
McNicol follows the Latin form Caesar,
though possibly pronounced by the scribe in the same way as in McLagan.

2 b For Caonaig
in McLagan, McNicol appears to read Comhrag.

15 cdMcLagan
reads Ciosh at the end of c, while
McNicol reads Croish.McLagan’s verb Conguis is otherwise unknown, but it would seem that the McNicol
scribe or his examplar understood it to be Congruis,
possibly to be associated with the English verb form ‘conquers’.

From the moment I wrote an essay for Dr Donald John
MacLeod, my teacher at Glasgow University, who set my mind to work on the
‘Buchanan conundrum’ in the autumn of 1970, I have incurred numerous debts.None could be greater than the debt to my informal
research assistant, Dr Dòmhnall Uilleam Stiùbhart, who, some fifteen years ago,
spontaneously made, and sent me, copies of much of the present McLagan material
on the chance that ‘these poems too may be by Dùghall’.The accuracy of Dr Stiùbhart’s hunch is
demonstrated here, I trust. That, at
least, is my hunch too. ’S ann dhutsa, agus mar urram ort, a tha am pàipear
seo, a charaid.

Another significant debt was incurred in the course of
writing this paper, and it is to Samantha Gilchrist, Special Collections
Librarian at Glasgow University Library, who, within the space of a working
day, took action to conserve the fragile papers in McLagan MSS General 1042/4,
and provided excellent digital images so that I could study their scribal hand
on my own computer screen.My earlier
physical interaction with these papers, in the course of editing LSDB, was
severely restricted, because I was greatly afraid, even terrified, of damaging
them further. Here, with the benefit of LSDB, I complete the job, identify the
hand, and resolve at least another part of what remains of the ‘Buchanan
conundrum’.My thanks to Samantha and
Dòmhnall Uilleam are boundless.